1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for increasing the mileage of motor vehicles. More particularly, it relates to those apparatus that utilize electrical energy storage and an electrical motor to lower overall energy consumption of a motor vehicle.
2. Background Art
As the cost of hydrocarbon fuels, and in particular the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel have increased, there it has become increasingly desirable to develop technologies that decrease fuel consumption. Generally, there have been a variety of technologies that have been developed that result in incremental increases in efficiencies of internal combustion engines. There has also been a trend to settle for decreased performance in terms of acceleration capability and gross weight handling capability, in order to increase mileage. However, experience has shown that many consumers are generally reluctant to give up performance and to drastically reduce carrying capacity in order to save on energy costs.
A technology that has been developed that seems to have some promise is that of hybrid vehicles; that is those using a combination of electric and internal combustion engines. Significant increases in mileage have been achieved. However, these vehicles tend to be small, sometime have limited range when operating on the electric motors, and demand a premium in cost. Further, it is necessary to replace the batteries during the life of the vehicle, thus further increasing cost. This has limited the desirability of such vehicles to owners who are willing to make sacrifices in performance and load handling capability, and do enough driving to justify the increase cost, even after tax advantages that may be associated with the purchase of such motor vehicles.
Another difficulty with such prior art technologies is that they are not applicable to the existing vehicles that are already on the road. In other words, increasing fuel economy generally means the need to purchase a new vehicle. There are many vehicle owners who would be very pleased to have a technology to boost fuel economy, but who have functional vehicles, and are not yet ready to go to the considerable expense of purchasing a new vehicle.